Income Investing
Michael Pond, CFA, delivered an interesting primer on inflation-linked debt at the recent CFA Institute Fixed-Income Management Conference. So what are inflation-linked bonds? They are most typically debts issued by sovereign nations whose nominal interest rate is adjusted, either up or down, by an inflation measure.
When it comes to retirement income planning, advisers should focus less on "shortfall" and "failure" probabilities, and embrace the "language of longevity,” Moshe Milevsky tells Barbara Petitt, CFA, in an interview for the Financial Analysts Journal Author Interview series.
The bond fund managed by Kathleen C. Gaffney, CFA, has an unconstrained mandate, allowing her to invest across asset classes and geographies. She discusses how she manages the risks inherent in investing in such a diverse mix of assets.
This book is recommended for anyone interested in the contemporary role of bonds in investment portfolios. The author explores the history of debt from ancient to modern times and discusses the growth of derivatives, developments in risk management, inflation in the modern era, the political backdrop of today’s debt standoffs, and why “bonds are not forever.”
Fixed-income index funds typically closely follow the construction rules of the indices they seek to replicate; in particular, bonds that violate an index’s minimum maturity rule will often be removed from funds that track that index. Recent research suggests that following minimum maturity rules causes funds to underperform.
The collapse of interest rates to record lows in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Switzerland, and Japan has inflicted pain on those who rely on interest income.
Despite historically low interest rates and the risk of future rate increases, there are ways to make money in the fixed-income market.